ge 5 SR ARR TER Sem 5 hey Ue oy SS Spee ha ® 


ORGANIZATION 
OF THE 


4 sy ee at 
| tree Jipouuarnent Association, | 


AND THE 


ASSOCIATION 


OF THE 


Drmy of Horthern Virginia, 


_ _ Richmond, Va, November 3d and 4th, 1870. 


Hichmond ; 
J. W. RANDOLPH & ENGLISH, 
1318 MaIN STREET. 





PRICH PTY OFNTS. 
” gold for benefit of ‘ ‘LEE MONUMENT Mae Ata 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































GENSRCES LEE 





ORGANIZATION 


OR EER 
fe {foruent SSOriation, 
AND THE 
ASSOCIATION 


Army of Sorthern Virginia, 


RICHMOND, VA , NOV. 3D AND 4TH, 1870. 


i 
Aichmond : 
J. W. RANDOLPH & ENGLISH, 
1318 Mary Srreet, Ricumonp, Vrrernta. 
1871. 


ee a, Ee oe 





oe ae Oo Pe) A a at oe a 
: iy 1 ALY ne 










' 
ee 2. 
7 Pi f , X 
. 
' 
at) 
Pes ea oy : 
a a ou eae 
como ou Webs ia Rab ira 
; ws _ reeui s 
Seip Aerie: 4 
Ay te a 
i 


a Bi 


Ai | he qe 


<4 CRESS whee 





“ o 


rae atte Ge re Ls 
JTBE tee Iugpel 


The following resolutions were adopted at a meeting of 
surviving Officers and Soldiers of the ARMY OF NORTH- 
ERN VIRGINIA, in the Riclmond Theatre, November 
4th, 1870, and the undersigned appointed a committee to 
carry them into effect. 


Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to secure the publica- 
tion, in pamphlet form, of the proceedings of the Lrez Mzmorrat MEETING 


of last evening, and also of this meeting. 4 
That the speakers at these meetings be requested to furnish said 
Committee copies of their remarks for this publication. ; 


Apologizing for the unavoidable delay in procuring copies 
of the several speeches delivered, the Committee beg leave 
to present to the Association and the Public the accompany- 
ing pamphlet. 

Captain THOS. D. HOUSTON, 


Captain MANN PAGE, CoMMITTEE. 
Masor ROBERT STILES. 


ORGANIZATION OF THE ASSOCIATION. 


President. 
Lieut-General JUBAL A. EARLY. 


Executive Committee. 


Col. Water H. Tayzor, Norfolk. 
Brig. Gen’l B. T. Jounson, Richmond. 
Maj. Rozerr SrizEzs, Richmond. 
R. H. Maury, Esq. Richmond. 
Brig. Gen’] W. N. Penpieron. Lexington. 
Col. C. S. VENABLE, University of Va. 
Capt. R. D. Mrxor, Richmond. 
Secretary. 
Col. T. M. R. Tarcort, Richmond. 
Treasurer. 
Col. W. H. Parmer, Richmond. 
Auditor 
Sergeant C. P. ALiEn, Richmond. 


Chairmen of State Executive Committees. 


Maj. Gen’! J. R. Trmesze, Maryland. 

Maj. Gen’1J. C. Breckinripex, Kentucky. 
Maj. Gen’l J. S. MaRMADUKE, Missouri. 
Lieut. Gen’] N. B. Forrest, Tennessee. 
Maj. Gen’l R. F. Hore, North Carolina. 
Lieut. Gen’] Wapvr Hampton, South Carolina. 
Maj. Gen’l Jonn B. Gorpon. Georgia. 

Brig. Gen’l Perry, Florida. 

Lieut. Gen’] Wm. J. HARpEE, Alabama. 

Brig. Gen’1 B. G. Humpnreys, Mississippi. - 
Gen’] G. T. BEAUREGARD, Louisiana. 
Brig. Gen’! W. L. Case xt. Arkansas. 
Major Joun 8. SriiErs, Texas. ~ 


W. W. Corcoran, Esq., Washington, D. C. 


LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


On the 25th day of October, 1870, the following address 
appeared in the public prints: 


To the Surviving Officers and Soldiers of the Army of Northern 
Virginia : 


ComrapErs—The sad tidings of the death of our great Commander came 
at a time, when, by the interruption of all the ordinary modes of travelling, 
very many of us were debarred the privilege of participating in the funeral 
ceremonies attending the burial of him we loved so well, or, by concerted 
action, of giving expression to our feelings on the occasion. While the un- 
buried remains of the illustrious hero were yet under the affectionate care 
of friends who, were bowed down witha sorrow unutterable, the hoarse 
ery of ‘‘treason” was croaked from certain quarters, for the vile but abor- 
tive purpose of casting a stigma upon his pure and exalted character. His 
fame belongs to the world, and to history, and is beyond the reach of ma- 
lignity ; but a sacred duty devolves upon those whom, in defence of a cause 
he believed to be just and to which he remained true to the latest moment 
of his life, he led so often to battle, and for whom he ever cherished the 
most affectionate regard, we owe it to our fallen comrades, to ourselves, and 
to posterity, by some suitable and lasting memorial, to manifest to the 
world, for all time to come, that we were not unworthy to be led by our im- 
mortal CHIEF, and that we are not now ashamed of the principles for 
which Lex fought and Jackson died. 

Already steps have been taken by some Confederate officers and soldiers, 
assembled at Lexington, the place of Gen. Lxn’s death and burial, to inau- 
gurate a Memorial Association ; and being, as I believe, the senior in rank 
of all officers of the Army of Northern Virginia now living in the State, I 
respectfully suggest and invite a conference at Richmond, on Thursday, 
the 3d day of November next, of all the survivors of that army, whether offi- 
cers or privates, and in whatever State they may live, who can conveniently 
attend, for the purpose of procuring concert of action in regard to the pro- 
ceeding contemplated. I would also invite to that conference the surviving 
officers and soldiers of all the other Confederate armies, as well as the offi- 
cers, sailors, and marines of the Confederate navy. 

This call would have been made sooner, but for my absence, up to this 
time, in a county where there are no railroads or telegraphs, and where I was 
detained by imperative duties. 


Your friend and late fellow-soldier, 
J. A. EARLY. 


Lynchburg, Va., Oct. 24, 1870. 
All Southern papers favoring the object proposed will please copy. 


(5). 


6 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


Pursuant to this call, the SOLDIERS and SAILORS of 
the Confederate States met to do honour to the memory of 
their great Chieftain, GenzraL ROBERT EDWARD LEE, 
in the First Presbyterian Church, in the City of Richmond, 
on Thursday evening, the 5rd day of November, A. D., 1870. 

The meeting was called to order by Brigadier-General 
Brabiey T. JOHNSON, on whose motion Lieutenant-General 
JuBAL A, Harty was appointed Temporary Chairman, and 
Captain GrorGe WaLkeEr, of Westmoreland, Captain Camp- 
BELL Lawson, of Richmond, and Sergeant Gzrorez L. Curis- 
TIAN, of Richmond, Temporary Secretaries. 

General Earuy, on taking the Chair, delivered an appro- 
driate address. 


REMARKS OF GENERAL EARLY. 


Frrenps aND Comrapes—When the information of the 
death of our illustrious Commander was flashed over the 
telegraphic wires to all parts of the civilized world, good men 
everywhere mourned the loss of him who, in life, was the 
noblest exemplar of his times, of all that is good, and true, 
and great in human nature ;—and a ery of anguish was 
wrung from the hearts of all true Confederate soldiers, which 
was equalled only by that which came up from the 
same hearts when the fact was realized that the sword of 
Rosert EK. Ler was sheathed forever, and that the banner 
to which his deeds had given such lustre was furled amid 
gloom and disaster. After the first burst of grief had sub- 
sided, the inquiry arose in the breasts of all: What can we 
do to manifest our esteem and veneration for him we loved 
so well? It was but necessary that the suggestion should be 
made, to elicit an expression of the general sentiment. I 
thought that I could take the liberty of making that sugges- 
tion to my old comrades, and I therefore made the call under 
which you are here assembled. Although I made that call 
as the former sénior in rank of all the officers of the Army 
of Northern Virginia, now living in the State, I desire to 
say to you that at the tomb of General Lez all distinctions 
of rank cease. The private soldier who, in tattered uniform 
and with sore and bleeding feet, followed the banner upheld 
by LEE and JACKSON, and did not desert his post or 


a 


SPEECH OF GENERAL EARLY, 7 


‘skulk in the hour of danger, but did his duty faithfully to 
the end of the war, and is now doing his duty by remaining 
true to the principles for which he fought—is the peer of 
the most renowned in fame or exalted in rank among the 
survivors. He has an equal share in the proud heritage left 
us in the memory of the glorious deeds and exalted virtues 
of our great Chieftain. AllsuchI greet and welcome here, 
as I do those of every rank, claiming them all as my friends, 
comrades, and brothers. 

My friends, if it is expected that I shall on this occasion 
deliver a eulogy on General Lex, you will be disappointed. 
I have not the language with which to give expression to my 
estimate of the greatness and goodness of his character. I 
will say, however, that, as extended is his fame, the world 
at large has not fully appreciated the transcendant abilities 
of General Lex, nor realized the perfection of his character. 
No one who has not witnessed the affectionate kindness and 
gentleness, and often playfulness, of his manners in private, 
his great self-control and dignity in dealing with important 
public affairs, the exhibition of his high and unyielding 
sense of duty on all occasions, and the majestic grandeur of 
his action and appearance in the shock otf battle, can form 
more than an approximate estimate of his real character. 

Monuments of marble or bronze can add nothing to the 
fame of General LEx, and to perpetuate it, it is not neces- 
sary that such should be erected. But the student of his- 
tory in future ages, who shall read of the deeds and virtues 
of our immortal hero, will be lost in amazement at the fact 
that such a man went down to his grave a disfranchised 
citizen by the edict of his cotemporaries—which infamous 
edict, by the fiat of an inexorable despotism, has been forced 
to be recorded on theS$tatute-book of his native State. We, 
my comrades, owe it to our own characters, at least, to vin- 
dicate our manhood and purge ourselves of the foul stain, 
by erecting an enduring monument to him, that will bea 
standing protest, for all time to come, against the righteous- 
ness of the judgment pronounced against him, without ar- 
raignment, without trial, without evidence, and against 
truth and justice. The exact locality of that monument I 
do not now propose to suggest. When we are in a condi- 
tion to erect it, it will, in my opinion, be the proper time to 
settle definitely its locality ; and I merely say now that it 
should be where it will be accessible to all his boys and 
their descendants. 


8 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


Something has been suggested with regard to the resting 
place of all that was mortal of our beloved commander. 
This is a question, at this time, solely for the determination 
of the immediate family of General Les. Let u8 respect the 
feelings of those who have sustained so terrible a bereave- 
ment. lam sure that the soldiers who followed him through 
such dreadful trials, will have regard for the wishes of that 
noble Virginia matron, who, being allied to WASHING- 
TON, has been, through life, the cherished bosom compan- 
ion of LEE. 

Comrades, I am more than gratified at the fact that the. 
great statesman and pure patriot who presided over the des- 
tinies of the Confederate States—who selected General LEE to 
lead her armies and gave him his entire confidence throughout 
all his glorious career—is here to mingle his grief with ours, 
and to join in paying tribute to the memory of him we 
mourn. 


The Rev. CHartes MiInnecERODE, Rector of St. Paul’s 
Church, Richmond, then offered up a most affecting and 
impressive prayer. 


PRAYER OF DR. MINNEGERODE. 


Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who art ever ready to receive the 
prayers of Thy people who come to Thee with humble and contrite hearts: 
look in mercy upon us, Thy unworthy servants, who approach the throne 
of grace, in this their hour of sorrow and of trial, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord! In Thy wise Providence, ‘Thou hast seen fit to visit us with 
trouble, and bring distress to every part and every family and every heart 
in our land. To whom shall we go but unto Thee, our prayer-hearing, 
coyenant-keeping God, who hast taught us in Thy holy word, that Thou 
dost not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men ? 

Hear us, oh our Father, as we turn to Thee in our sorrow, and give us 
grace, humbly to submit to Thy dispensation, and from the heart to say, 
“Thy will be done.” 

We thank Thee for having given to us and to this country, one so great 
and noble in every virtue, every praise; so truly pious, so faithful to his 
God and to his country. And now—as Thou hast taken him from us— 
*‘the righteous from the evil to come’”’—we praise Thy holy name, that 
we can rejoice in the belief, that out of this vale of misery Thou hast 
taken him unto Thyself, to the rest of the blessed in Heaven. ‘‘ The 
Lord gaye, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the 
Lord.” ‘‘We sorrow not as those who have no hope.” 


PRAYER OF DR. MINNEGERODE. 4 


Bereaved as we are, and mourning our loss, we give Thee hearty thanks: 
for the good example of this Thy servant, who, having finished his course 
in faith, now rests from his labours; and we glory in the hope, that with 
the spirits of all who depart hence in the Lord, being delivered from the 
burden of the flesh, he lives with Thee in everlasting joy and felicity. 

We bless Thee for the privilege of having known and loved and fol- 
lowed him; we thank Thee for the precious memories of his lofty char-. 
acter and noble life; for the elevating associations which will ever be 
connected with the thought of the best and greatest of the sons of Vir-- 
ginia. May the recollection of his faithfulness to duty, his unselfish, 
godly walk and conversation, be sanctified to Thy mourning people, as an 
incentive to follow him ‘‘as he followed Christ”: so that we may hope to 
rejoin him in the ranks above, and with him have our perfect consumma- 
tion and bliss in Thy eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ. 
our Lord. 


Remember, oh Lord, in mercy his afflicted family: that revered widow 
—a true help-meet for him—comfort her, mourning in godly sorrow ; and 
those children—in their generations may they perpetuate, as the heirloom 
of their house, the virtue and godliness of their sainted father. Sanctify 
to them Thy Fatherly correction, endue their souls with patience under 
their affliction and with resignation to Thy blessed will; comfort them 
with a sense of Thy goodness, lift up Thy countenance upon them and 
give them peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

And now, Heavenly Father, without whom nothing is strong, nothing 
is holy, and who alone can’st order the unruly wills and affections of 
sinful men: let Thy blessing rest upon this meeting; and so guide our 
deliberations and the thoughts of our hearts: that all we do may be in 
accordance with Thy holy will, and that nothing be done contrary to the 
solemnity of the occasion; but suited to the greatness of our grief, the 
depth of our affection, and our supreme love to Thee, our God and Sa- 
viour ! 


May we remember, that we are in thy presence, in Thy house! met to 
commemorate the virtues with which Thy grace has endowed that immor- 
tal spirit, who has now reaped his reward—who has fought a good fight, 
kept the faith, finished his course, and now wears the crown! 

And as we go forth from this memorial of affectionate regard—may it 
be ours, like him—‘‘ first to seek Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness,” 
to live in the fulfilment of our duties to Thee and to our fellow-men ; and 
all the days of our lives follow our great commander—who not only has 
led the youth and flower of our country on the battle-fields of earth to 
glory ; but who crowned the last years of his life, by enlisting immortal 
souls in the army of the great Captain of our salvation, and leading them 
on in the warfare ‘‘against sin, the world and the Devil.”” May we 
honour his memory by following him in the pursuit of ‘‘ whatsoever 
things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report,” and be 


10 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


living monuments of the power of God for good, which Thou hast given 
to Thy chosen saints. 

Hear us, Father of mercies, in these our humble and imperfect prayers, 
which we offer unto Thee in the name and through the mediation of our 
only Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

““Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thyname. Thy kingdom 
come; Thy will be done in earth, as it isin Heaven. Give us this day 
our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and 
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the 
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.” 

““The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the 
fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore.” AMEN. 


General Brapiey T. Jonnson moved the appointment of 


Committees on Permanent Organization and Resolutions ; 
whereupon the Chair appointed the following : 


ON PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 


Gen. Wa. TERRY, Bedford, Chairman. 


Maj. Roxerr STILEs, Richmond. 
Set. J. VanLew McCrerry, Richmond. 
Corp’]. We. C. Kean, Jr. Louisa. 

Lt. Jno. E. Rotier, Rockingham, 
Lt. Henry C. Carter, Richmond. 
Gen. Guo. E. PIcKErt, Richmond. 
Gen. Jno. R. Cooxe, King William. 
Gen. Harry Herta, Baltimore. 
Col. Taos. H. Carter, King William. 
Col. H. P. Jones, Hanover. 
Private W. H. EFrincEr, Rockingham. 
Capt. James Wo. Foster, Leesburg. 
Col. Tuomas L. Preston, Albemarle. 
Gen. Wm. H. Paynz, Fauquier. 
Col. Rozsr. 8. Preston, Montgomery. 
Capt. W. C. NicHotas, ~ Maryland. 
Col. WitLiAM ALLAN, Lexington. 
Private ABRAM WARWICK, Richmond. 
Maj. A. R. VENABLE, Prince Edward. 
Lt. Samvet Witson, Surry. 

Maj. Ro. W. Hunrer, Winchester. 
Lt. James PoLzarp, King William. 
Col. Wa. NEtson, Hanover. 
‘Capt. R. D. Minor, Richmond. 


‘Gen. James H. Lane, 


North Carolina. 


ON PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 


Col. W. W. Gorpon, 
Hon. Wm. WEtsu, 
Capt. J. L. Crarxe, 


New Kent. 
Kent Co., Maryland. 
Baltimore. 


ON RESOLUTIONS. 


Col. Cartes §. VENABLE, 
Hon. R. T. Banks, 


Albemarle, Chairman. 
Baltimore. 


Maj. Jonn W. Danizt, Lynchburg. 
Lt. Rronarp H. Curistran, Richmond. 
Maj. Wo. H. Caskir, Richmond. 
Gen. BEN. HvUGER, Fauquier. 
Gen. Wm. Manone, Norfolk. 
Gen. L. L. Lomax, Fauquier. 
Gero. H. Pacets, Esq., Baltimore. 
Col. EpMunD PENDLETON, Botetourt. 
Private Jno. A. ELDER, Richmond. 
Com. Marrnew F. Maury, Lexington. 
Gen. Geo. H. Srewarr, Baltimore. 
Gen. C. W. FIetps, Baltimore ? 
Gen. W. 8S. WALKER, Georgia. 
Sg’t. Leroy S. Epwarps, Richmond. 
Lt. S. V. SourHatt, Albemarle. 
Capt. J. M. Hupainys, Caroline. 
Col. Wu. E. CAMERON, Petersburg. 
Col. Wa. Warts, Roanoke. 
Gen. Harry HErH, Baltimore. 
Gen. Wm. B. TA iaFEerro, Gloucester. 
Gen. Sam’t JoNEs, Amelia. 
Private Joun B. MorpEcat, Henrico. 
Capt. J. MoHrenry Howarp, Baltimore. 
Capt. E. Griswo.p, Baltimore. 


Lt. R. C. Jones, 


Alleghany Co., Maryland. 


11 


After an absence of a few minutes the Committee on 
Permanent Organization, through their Chairman, Gen. 
Terry, made the following report, which was unanimously 
adopted, amidst great applause : 


For President— 


For Vice Presidents— 


Maj. Gen’l Jno. B. Gorpon. 
Maj. Gen’] Epwarp JoHNson. 


Hon. JEFFERSON DAyvIs. 


Maj. Gen’] Firz Ler. 
Col. Henry PEYTON. 


12 


LEE MEMORIAL 


Maj. Gen’l J. R. Tre xe. 


Maj. Gen’l W. B. Taiarerro. 
Brig. Gen’] Wm. N. PENDLETON. 


Maj. Gen’] Wm. Smrru, 
Brig. Gen’1 J. D. Inpopen. 
Col. CHarLtEs Marswatt. 
Col. Watrer H. Taytor. 
Col. W. K. PERRIN. 

Col. Pryron N. Wiser. 
Gen’] M. Ransom. 

Capt. Roprrr PrGram. 


MEETING. 


Coli IM FRENCH, 


Col. Roperr E. Wirners. 
Maj. Wu. N. BerKeLey. 
Col. Wri11AM WILLIs. 
Col. Wm. Preston Jonnson, 
Capt. Mann Paes, 
Corporal Wm. C. Kray, 
Private Ropert Martin, 

«< GG. Hover. 

<<  G. ELDER. 
Serg’t W. Wirt Rosrnson. 


Gen’). L. L. Lomax. 


For Secretaries— 
Capt. E. 8. Grecory. 
Ser’et Gro. L. Curisrran. 
Capt. C. G. Lawson. 
Ser’et James P. Cowarpin. 
Capt. W. A. ANDERSON. 


Private ABNER ANDERSON. 
Capt. Taos. D. Houston. 
Capt. Gro. WALKER. 
Maj. Wm. B. Myrrs. 


Mr. Davis’ advance to the chair was hailed with a burst 
of irrepressible enthusiasm, and hisaddress enchained every 
eye and thrilled every heart in the audience from the outset 
to the end. 


REMARKS OF PRESIDENT DAVIS. 


SoLDIERS AND SAILORS OF THE CONFEDERACY, CoUN- 
TRYMEN AND Frienps—Assembled on this sad oceasion,, 
with hearts oppressed with the grief that follows the 
loss of hius who was our leader on many a bloody battle- 
field, there is a melancholy pleasure in the spectacle 
which is presented. Jitherto, in all times, men have been 
honoured when successtul, but here is the case of one who, 
amid disaster, went down to his grave, and those who were 
his companions in misfortune have assembled to honour his 
memory. It is as much an honour to you who give as to him 
who rece ves, fer above the vulgar test of merit you show 
yourselves competent to discriminate between him who 
enjoys and him who deserves success. 

Rozert KE. Ler was my associate and friend in the mili- 
tary academy, and we were friends until the hour of his 
death. We were associates and friends when he was a sol- 


REMARKS OF PRESIDENT DAVIS. LS 


dier and I a congressman ; and associates and friends when 
he led the armies of the Confederacy and [held civil office, 
and therefore I may claim to speak as one who knew him. 
In the many sad scenes and perilous circumstances through 
which we passed together, our conferences were frequent 
and full, yet never was there an occasion on which there was 
not entire harmony of purpose and accordance as to means. 
Tf ever there was difference of opinion, it was dissipated by 
discussion, and harmony was the result. I repeat, we never 
disagreed, and I may add, that I never in my life saw in him 
the slightest tendency to self-seeking. It was not his to 
make a record, it was not his to shift blame to other shoul- 
ders ; but it was his with an eye fixed upon the welfare of 
his country, never faltering to follow the line of duty to the 
end. His was the heart that braved every difficulty; his 
was the mind that wrought victory out of defeat. 

He has been charged with ‘‘ want of dash.” I wish to 
say that I never knew Lue to decline to attempt anything 
man might dare. An attempt has also been made to 
throw a c'oud upon his character because he left the army 
of the United States to join in the struggle for the liberty 
of his State. Without entering into politics, [deem it my 
duty to say one word in reference to this charge. Virginian 
born, descended from a family illustrious in the Colonial 
history of Virginia, more illustrious still in her struggle for 
Independence, and most illustrious in her recent effort 
to maintain the great principles declared in 1776; 
given by Virginia to the service of the United States, 
he represented her in the Military Academy at West 
Point. He was not educated by the Federal Govern- 
ment, but by Virginia; for she paid her full share for 
the support of that institution, and was entitled to demand 
in return the services of her sons. Entering the army of 
the United States, he represented Virginia there also, and 
nobly performed his duty for the Union of which Virginia 
was a member, whether we look to his peaceful services as 
an engineer, or to his more notable deeds upon foreign 
fields of battle. He came from Mexico crowned with hon- 
ors, covered by brevets, and recognized, young as he was, 
as one of the ablest of his country’s soldiers. And to prove 
that he was estimated then as such, not only by his associ- 
ates, but by foreigners also, I may mention that when he was 
a Captain of Engineers, stationed in Baltimore, the Cuban 
Junta in New York selected him to be their leader in the 


14 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


revolutionary effort in that island. They were anxious to 
secure his services, and offered him every temptation that 
ambition could desire, and pecuniary emoluments far beyond 
any which he could hope otherwise to acquire. He thought 
the matter over, and I remember, came to Washington to 
consult me as to what he should do. After a briet discus- 
sion of the complex character of the military problem which 
was presented, he turned from the consideration of that view 
of the question, by stating that the point on which he wished 
particularly to consult me, was as to the propriety of enter- 
taining the proposition which had been madet» him. He 
had been educated in the service of the United States, and 
felt it wrong to accept place in the army of a foreign power, 
while he held his commission. Such was his extreme deli- 
cacy, such the nice sense of honour of the gallant gentleman 
we deplore. But when Virginia—the State to which he 
owed his first and last allegiance—withdrew from the Union, 
and thus terminated his relations to it, the same nice sense 
of honour and duty, which had guided him on a former occa- 
sion, had a different application, and led him to draw his 
sword and throw it in the scale to share her fortune for good 
or for evil. 

When Virginia joined the Confederacy, and the seat 
of Government was moved to Richmond, Lee was the high- 
est officer in the little army of Virginia, and promptly co- 
operated in all the movements of the Confederate Govern- 
ment for the defence of the common country ; and when he 
was sent to Western Virginia made no inquiry as to his rank, 
but continued to serve under the impression that he was still 
an officer of Virginia ; and though he had, in point of fact, 
then been appointed General by the Confederate Govern- 
ment, he was so careless of himself as never to have learned 
the fact ; and only made inquiry when, ordered to another 
State, he deemed it necessary to know what would be his 
relative position towards other officers with whom he might 
be brought in contact. You all remember the disastrous 
character of that campaign in Western Virginia to which I 
have referred. He came back carrying the heavy 
weight of defeat, and unappreciated by the people whom he 
served, for they could not know that, if his plans and orders 
had been carried out, the result would have been victory 
rather than retreat. You did not know it, for I would 
not have known, had he not reported it, with the request, 
however, that it should not be made public. The clamor 


REMARKS OF PRESIDENT DAVIS. 15. 


which then arcse followed him when he went to South Car- 
olina, so that it became necessary to write a letter to the 
Governor of that State, telling him what manner of man 
he was. Yet, through all this, with a magnanimity rarely 
equalled, he stood in silence, without defending himself or 
allowing others to defend him, for he was unwilling to in- 
jure any one who was wearing a sword and striking blows 
for the Confederacy. 

[Mr. Davis then spoke of the straits to which the Con- 
federacy was reduced, and of the danger to which her capi- 
tal was exposed just after the battle of Seven Pines, and 
told how General LEE conceived and executed the des- 
perate plan to turn their flank and rear; and how, after 
seven days’ bloody battle, the protection of Richmond was 
secured; and the evemy, driven far from the city, cowered 
on the banks of the James River, under the cover of his 
gunboats. The speaker referred also to the circumstances 
attending General Lezn’s crossing the Potomac and the march 
into Pennsylvania ; and to the censures to which that move- 
ment had been subjected by those who did not comprehend the 
purpose for which it was undertaken. He said that, if ne- 
cessary, he had always been willing to assume the responsi- 
bility of -it, and had at the time written a vindica- 
tion. Whatever were the sacrifices of that campaign, 
it achieved the result for which it was intended. The 
enemy had long been concentrating his forces, and it 
was evident that if they continued their steady progress, the 
Confederacy would be overwhelmed. Our only hope was 
to drive him to the defence of his own capital, we being en- 
abled in the meantime to reinforce our shattered army. 
How well General Lee carried out that dangerous experi- 
ment need not be told. Richmond was relieved, the Con- 
federacy was relieved,.and time was obtained, if other things 
had favored, to reinforce the army.] Mr. Davis then pro- 
cecded : 

I shall not attempt to review the military career 
of our deceased Chieftain. Of the man, how shall I 
speak? He was my friend, and in that word is included 
all that I could say of any man. His moral qualities 
rose to the height of his genius. Self-denying—always 
intent upon the one idea of duty—seltf-contr. lled to an ex- 
tent that many thought him cold. His feelings were reaily 
warm, and his heart melted readily at the sufferings of the 
widow and the orphan, and his eye rested with mournful 


16 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


tenderness upon the wounded soldier. During the war he 
was ever conscious of the insufficiency of the means at his 
control ; but it was never his to complain or to utter a doubt 
——it was always his to do. When in the last campaign he 
was beleagured at Petersburg. and painfully aware of the 
straits to which we were reduced, he said: ‘* With my 
army in the mountains of Virginia I could carry on this war 
for twenty years longer.” His army greatly diminished, 
' his transportation deficient, he could only hope to protract 
the defence until the roads should become firm enough to 
enable him to retire. An untoward event caused him to 
anticipate the movement, and the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia was overwhelmed. But in the suriender he trusted to 
conditions that have not been fulfilled—he expected his army 
to be respected and his paroled soldiers to be allowed the 
peaceful enjoyment of civil rights and property. Whether 
these conditions have been fulfilled, I leave it to others to 
determine. 

Ilere he now sleeps in the land he loved so well, and 
that land is not Virginia only, for they do injustice to LEE 
who believe he fought only for Virginia. He was ready to 
go anywhere, ou any service for the good of his country, 
and his heart was as broad as the fifteen States struggling for the 
principles that our forefathers fought for in the Revolution of 
1776. He sleeps with the thousands who fought under the 
same flag—and happiest they who first offered up their 
lives ;—he sleeps in the soil, to him and to them most dear. 
That flag was furled when there was none to bear it. 
Around it we are assembled a remnant of the living, to do 
honour to kis memory, and there is an army of skeleton sen- 
tinels to keep watch above his grave. This good citizen, this 
gallant soldier, this great general, this true patriot, had yet 
a higher praise than this or these, he was a true Christian. 
The Christianity, which ennobled his life, gives to us the 
consolatory belief that-he is happy beyond the grave. 

But, while we mourn the loss of the great and the true, 
drop we also tears of sympathy with her who was an help- 
meet to him—the noble woman who, while her husband was 
in the field leading the Army of the Confederacy, though 
an invalid herself, passed the time in knitting socks for the 
marching soldiers! A woman fit to be the mother of he- 
-roes—and heroes are descended from her. Mourning with 
her, we can only offer the consolations of the Christian. Our 
loss is not his, but he now enjoys the rewards of a life well 


MEMOMIAL RESOLUTIONS. 17 


spent and a never wavering trust in a risen Saviour. This 
day we unite our words of sorrow with those of the good and 
great throughout Christendom, for his fame is gone over the 
water—-his deeds will be remembered ; and when the monu- 
ment we build shall have crumbled into dust, his virtues 
will still live, a high model for the imitation of generations 
yet unborn. 


MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS. 


Colonel C. 8. VenaBLE then presented the following re- 
port of the Committee on Resolutions : 


Whereas, itis a high and holy duty, as well as a noble privilege to 
perpetuate the honours of those who have displayed eminent virtues. and 
performed great achievements, that they may serve as incentives and ex- 
amples to the latest generation of their countrymen, and attest the rever- 
ential admiration and affectionate regard of their compatriots; and 
whereas, this duty and privilege devolves on all who love and admire 
General Ropert E. Lre throughout this country and the world, and in an 
especial manner upon those who followed him in the field, or who fought 
in the same cause, who shared in his glories, partook of his trials, and 
were united with him in the same sorrows and adversity, who were deyo- 
ted to him in war by the baptism of fire and blood, and bound to him in 
peace by the still higher homage due to the rare and grand exhibition of 
a character pure and lofty and gentle and true, under all changes of for- 
tune, and serene amid the greatest disasters ; therefore, be it 

1. Resolved, That we form an association to erect a monument at 
‘Richmond to the memory of Roperr E. Lez, as an enduring testimonial 
of our loye and respect and devotion to his fame. 

2. Resolved, That while donatiows will be gladly received from all 
“who recognize in the excellencies of General Lrx’s character an honour 
and an encouragement to our common humanity and an abiding hope that 
others in coming generations may be found to imitate his virtues, it is de- 
sirable that every Confederate soldier and sailor should make some con- 
tribution, however small, to the proposed monument. 

3. Resolved, That for the purpose of securing the requisite efficiency 
and dispatch in the erection of the monument, an executive committee of 
seven, with a president, secretary, treasurer, auditor, &c., be appointed to 
‘invite and collect subscriptions, to procure designs for said monument, 
to select the best, to provide for the organization of central executive 
committees in other States which may serve as mediums of communica- 
tion between the executive committee of the Association and the local as- 
sociations of those States, and to do whatever else is required in the 
premises. 


18 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. - 


4, Resolved, That we respectfully invite the ladies of the Hollywood 
Association to lend us their assistance and co-operation in the collection 
of subscriptions. 

5. Resolved, That we cbienealp approve of the local monuments to: 
our beloved Chieftain, proposed by the Associations at Atlanta, and at. 
Lexington, his home, whose people were so closely united with him in 
the last sad years of his life. 

6. Resolved, That while we cordially thank the Governor and Legis- 
lature of Virginia for the steps they have taken to do honour to the mem- 
ory of General Lrx, yet in deference to the wishes of his loved and ven- 
eratcd widow, with whom we mourn, we will not discuss the question of 
the most fitting resting place for his ever glorious remains, but will con- 
tent ourselves with expressing the earnest desire and hope that at. 
some future proper time they will be committed to the charge of this As- 


sociation. 


Col. VENABLE then supported the resolutions with a few 
well-timed and effective remarks. 


REMARKS OF COL. VENABLE. 


My CounTRYMEN AND FELLow-Sonprers :—In presenting 
these resolutions from the Committee, I will make no stu- 
died effort to add to the eulogies of General Lez which have 
been pronounced throughout the world. I will not speak 
of his fame and his military genius. We can leave these in 
perfect confidence to the calm verdict of history. Be it 
mine to relate a single incident to show what his great soul 
suffered for us amid those last sad hours of the life of the 
Army of Northern Virginia, at Appomattox Court House. 
At three o’clock on the morning of that fatal day, General 
Lex rode forward, still hoping that we might break through 
the countless hordes of the enemy which hemmed us in. 
Halting a short distance in rear of our vanguard, he sent me 
on to General Gorpon to ask him if he could break through 
the enemy. I found General Gorpon and General Firz 
Lex on their front line in the dim light of the morning 
arranging an attack. Gorpon’s reply to the message, (I 

ive the expressive pbrase of the gallant Georgian), was 
this: ‘‘Tell General Lex I have fought my corps to a fraz- 
zle, and I fear I can do nothing unless I am heavily sup- 
ported by LonestREEr’s corps.” When I bore this message 
back to General LEE, he said: ‘ Then there is nothing left 


—— ee 


REMARKS OF COLONEL VENABLE. 19 


me, but to go and see General Grant,* and I would rather 
die a thousand deaths.” Convulsed with passionate grief, 
many were the wild words which we spoke, as we stood 
around him. Said one, ‘‘ Oh! General, what will history 
say of the surrender of the army in the field?” He replied, 
«Yes, I know they will say hard things of us ; they will not 
understand how we were overwhelmed by numbers; but 
that is not the question, Colonel ; the question is, is it right 
to surrender this army ? if it is right, then J will take all the 
responsibility. Fellow-soldiers, though he alone was calm, 
in that hour of humiliation the soul of our great Captain 
underwent the throes of death for his grand old army sur- 
rendered, and for his people so soon to lie at the mercy of 
the foe ; and the sorrows of this first death at Appomattox 
Court House, with the afflictions which fell upon the devoted 
South, weighed upon his mighty heart to its breaking, when 
the welcome messenger came from God to translate him to 
his home in heaven. 

We are met together to begin the erection of a monument 
to his memory. And where shall this monument be reared ? 
In the words of the resolutions, we say, here at Richmond, 
which was founded by the companions of his knightly an- 
cestors ; at Richmond, the objective point of those attacks 
made with all the accumulated resources of modern warfare, 
which he repelled for four long years; Richmond, where lie 
so many of the brave soldiers who went gaily to death at his 
bidding ; some, who fell with their last looks upon the spires 
of her temples ; others nursed in their dying hours by the 
tender hands of her women ; and others still who gave their 
souls to God and their bodies to the enemy at Gettysburg, 
brought hither by the loving care of the same true devoted 
women. Yes, let his monument be near them here in Rich- 
mond, and when the first flush of the resurrection morn 
tinges the skies, may their unsealed eyes behold the grand 
figure of him whom they loved so well. 


The Chair then introduced Gen. Jonn S. Preston, of 


South Carolina. 


*Norz.—Field’s and Mahone’s Divisions of Longstreet’s Corps, staunch 
jn the midst of all our disasters, were holding Meade back in our rear, and 
could not be spared for the attack. 


20 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 
REMARKS OF GENERAL PRESTON. 


Mr. PRESIDENT AND COMRADES OF THE ARMIES OF THE Con- 
FEDERATE STATES—There was a time when, with wicked and 
impatient infidelity, I feared it was not a kind providence 
which permitted men with grey beards to survive our war. 
But, having seen Ropert Lex live as righteously as he fought 
gloriously, and that we are now spared to the holy duty of 
honoring his memory, and perpetuating his faith, I recant 
the heresy, and meekly wait the way of the Lord; and am 
vrateful tor that consideration which calls me to appear in 
this stately procession. Yet I scarcely dare to bring my 
little blade of grass to lay upon a grave already glittering 
with tears and ) pearls, flowing from ‘the eyes and hearts of a 
mourning world. On nooccasion of my life have I been 
so utterly unable to tell the feelings of my heart, or the 
crowding thoughts which come rushing on my brain. But, 
comrades, we are not here to find rhetorical forms, modes, 
and shows of grief, not even to speak singly, but altogether, 
as in these complete resolutions, with one tongue, one heart, 
in the simplest words of our language, to join our grief and 
our honour. 

As a Virginian, as a Confederate, as a man, as a friend, 
T am overwhelmed with the emotions which emanate from 
all these attributes of my being. Standing here before the 
most illustrious and the br avest living, I feel as if I were in 
the very presence of the greatest dead who has died in my 
generation—of him to whom my spirit bowed as to the 
anointed Champion of the purest human faith I have ever 
cherished—of him, who, by his great deeds, by his pure 
life, by his humble faith in the meek and lowly Jesus, has 
justified to the world, and is now pleading with a God of 
Truth for that cause which made him the most illustrious 
living man and the most mourned of all the dead who have 
died in his generation. It was the greatness of his cause, 
and the purity of his faith in that cause, which made Roperr 
Lez great, for we who know him best, do know, that Roper 
Ler could never have achieved greatness In an ignoble 
cause, or under an impure faith. God gave him to us, to 
sanctify our faith, and to show us and the world that, 
although we might fail, His chosen servant had made that 
cause forever holy. 

We who have been associated with the man in the gen- 
tler affections of friendship, or even in the rage and turmoil 


e245, 


REMARKS OF GENERAL PRESTON. 2t 


of battle, can scarcely appreciate the perfect symmetry and 
dazzling splendor of that character which stands out the 
foremost of our age. Those who come after us, freed from 
our personal love, and from the present glow of his virtues, 
will see in all their plenitude the god-like hero, the great 
Captain, the exalted Christian gentleman, the devoted Son, 
who drew his sword in defence of the honour, the liberties 
and the sovereignty of Virginia, and who, as surely as if he 
had been shot to death on her bloodiest battle-field, did die 
for Virginia, for he had laid all his love, all his faith, all 


_ his life, at her feet. Virginians ! can we forget the mother, 


for whose honour, liberty and sovereignty, Ropert Ler has 
just died ? 

Ler’s patriotism was that God-given virtue which makes 
demi-gods of men, and was as wide as his country, 


from Maryland to Texas; but he was a Virginian, body and 


soul, heart and spirit. He told his commander so, when he 
sheathed the sword from the service of her enemies ; he told 
the wife of his bosom so, when the Virginia matron again 
girded on-his sword ; and here, glowing like a promised god, 
in the presence of the assembled sovereignty of Virginia, 
he told them he drew his sword in defence of the honour, 
the liberty and the sovereignty of Virginia. She was his 
fortress, his citadel, his palladium, the very temple in which 
he worshipped, and it was here, when the circling fire was 
girdling nearer and nearer around her sacred Capitol, that 
the mighty powers of his soul came forth to redeem his 
pledge, for it was the last stronghold of his faith. And it 
was here, beneath the shadow of these monuments which 
attest her glory, that he rose to be peer of those whose 
images grow brighter by his great deeds. 

Here, then, comrades of Rogert Lez, is the ground made 
sacred by himself for the repose of his ashes. Here, in front 
of the Capitol of Virginia, let there be reared side by side 
with the monument to GrorGE W AsHINGTON, an equal monu- 
ment to Ropert Les, that in all time to come our children’s 
children may render equal reverence to the Faith of the 
Father of his Country and that of the Confederate Soldier. 


Gen. Jno. B. Gorpon, of Georgia, was introduced by the 
Chair, and spoke as follows: 


22 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING, 
REMARKS OF GENERAL GORDON. | 


Mr. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND FELLOW-SOLDIERS—If per- 
mitted to indulge the sensibilities of my nature, I would 
gladly have fled the performance of this most honorable 
task your kindness has imposed, and in silence to-night have 
contemplated the virtues of the great and good man whose 
loss we so deplore. I loved Gen. Len, for it was my proud 
privilege to have known him well. I loved him with a pro- 
found and filial awe—a sincere and unfeigned affection. 
We all loved him, and it is not a matter of surprise that the 
sons and daughters of Virginia should contend for that 
sweetest of all privileges now left us—to keep special watch 
over his grave. 

But where his remains shall lie is not the subject we are 
here to consider. We are met to provide, as suggested by 
the resolutions, for the erection of a monument in honour of 
our great Captain. Honour, did I say? Honour General 
Leg! How vain, what utter mockery do these words 
seem. Honour Lre! Why, my friends, his deeds have hon- 
oured him. The very trump of Fame is proud to honour him, 
Europe and the civilized world have honoured him supremely, 
and history itself will catch the echo and make it immortal. 
Honour Lee! Why, sir, the sad news ot his death, as it was 
borne to the world, carried a pang even to the hearts of mar- 
shals and of monarchs ; and I can easily faney that, amidst 
the din and clash and carnage of battle, the cannon, in tran- 
sient pause at the whispered news, briefly ceased its roar 
around the walis of Paris. 

The brief time it would be proper for me to occupy 
to-night is altogether insufficient to analyze the ele- 
ments which made him great. But I wish to say that it has 
been my fortune in life to have come in contact with some 
whom the world pronounced great ; but of no man whom it 
has ever been my fortune to meet can it be so truthfully 
said, as of Luz, that, grand as might be your conceptions of 
the man before, he arose in incomparable majesty on more 
familiar acquaintance. This can be affirmed of*few men 
who have ever lived or died, and of no other man whom it 
has been my fortune to approach. Like Niagara, the more 
you gazed the more its grandeur grew upon you, the moreits 
majesty expanded and filled your spirit with a full satisfac- 
tion, that left a perfect delight without the slightest feeling 
of oppression. Grandly majestic and dignified in all his 


REMARKS OF GENERAL GORDON. 23 


deportment, he was genial as the sunlight of May, and not 
a ray of that cordial, social intercourse, but brought warmth 
to the heart, as it did light to the understanding. 

But, as one of the great Captains of the world, he will 
‘first pass review and inspection before the criticism of his- 
‘tory. We will not compare him with WasHineton. The 
mind revolts instinctively at the comparison and competition 
of two such men, so equally and gloriously great. But with 
modest, yet calm and unflinching confi lence, we place him 
by the side of the Marisoroucus and WeE.uIneToNs, who fill 
‘such high niches in the Pantheon of immortality. 

Let us dwell for a moment, my friends, on this thought. 
Mar.zBoroued never met defeat, it istrue. Victory marked 
every step of his triumphant march, but when, where, and 
whom did Maruzorouen fight? The ambitious and vain 
but able Louis XLV. had already exhausted the resources of 
his Kingdom before MariporoueH stepped upon the stage. 
‘The great Marshals TURENNE and ConpI were no more, and 
Luxempure, we believe, had vanished from the scene. 
MARLBOROUGH, pre-eminently great, as he certainly was, 
nevertheless, led the combined forces of England and of 
Holland, in the freshness of their strength, and the fulness 
of their financial ability, against prostrate France, with a 
treasury depleted, a people worn out, discouraged and 
dejected. 

But let us turn to another comparison. The great Von 
Mo.rxKz, who now ‘rides upon the whirlwind and commands 
the storm” of Prussian invasion, has recently declared that 
General Lez, in all respects, was fully the equal of WELLING- 
‘TON, and you may the better appreciate this admission, when 
you remember that WELLINGTON was the benefactor of Prus- 
‘sia, and probably Von Mo.rxe’s special idol. But let us 
examine the arguments ourselves. France was already pros- 
trate when WELLINGTON met NapoLeon. That great Empe- 
ror had seemed to make war upon the very elements them- 
selves, to have contended with nature, and to have almost 
defied Providence. The Nemesis of the North, more savage 
than GorH or VANDAL, mounting the swift gales of a Rus- 
‘sian winter, had carried death, desolation and ruin to the 
very gates of Paris. Wetiineton fought at Waterloo,a 
bleeding and broken nation—a nation electrified, it is true, 
‘to almost superhuman energy, by the genius of NaPoLEon ; 
but a nation prostrate and bleeding, nevertheless. Compare 
this, my friends, the condition of France, with the condition 


~ 


24 - LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


of the United States, in the freshness of her strength, in the 
luxuriance of her resources, in the lustihood of her gigantic 
youth, and tell me where belongs the chaplet of military supe- 
riority, with Lez or with MarLBorovcH or WELLINGTON 2 
Even that greatest of Captains, in his Italian campaigns, 
flashing his fame, in lightning splendor, over the world, 
even BonapaRTE met and crushed in battle but three or four; 
I think, Austrian armies ; while our LEx, with one army, 
badly equipped, and in time incredibly short, met and hurled 
back, in broken and shattered fragments, five admirably 
prepared and most magnificently appointed invasions. Yes, 
more, he discrowned, in rapid succession, one after another, 
of the United States’ most accomplished and admirable com- 
manders. 

Lee was never really beaten. Lx could not be beaten ! 
Overpowered, foiled in his efforts, he might be, but never 
defeated until the props which supported him gave way: 
Never until the platform sank beneath-him, did any enemy 
ever dare pursue. On that most melancholy of pages, the 
downfall of the Confederacy, no Leipsic, no Waterloo, no 
Sedan can ever be recorded. 

General Lez is known to the world, only as a military 
man, but it is easy to divine from his history how mindful 
of all just authority, how observant of all constitutional 
restrictions would have been his career as acivilian. When 
near the conclusion of the war, darkness was thickening 
about the falling fortunes of the Confederacy; when its very 
life was in the sword of Lexx, it was my proud privilege to 
note, with special admiration, the modest demeanor, the 
mauly decorum, and the respectful homage which marked 
all his intercourse with the constituted authorities of his 
country. Clothed with all power, he hid its every symbol 
behind a genial modesty, and refused to exert it save in 
obedience to Jaw. And even in his triumphant entry into 
the territory of the enemy, so regardful was he of civilized: 
warfare, that the observance of his general orders as to pri- 
vate property and private rights left the line of his march 


marked and marred by no devastated fields, charred ruins. 


or desolated homes. 

But itis his private character, or rather I should say, his: 
personal emotion and virtues which his countrymen will 
most delight to consider and dwell upon. His magnanim- 
ity, transcending all historic precedents, seemed to form @ 
new chapter in the book of humanity. Witness that letter 


REMARKS OF GENERAL GORDON. 25 


to Jackson, after his wounds at Chancellorsville, in which 
he said, ‘‘I am praying for you with more fervor than I ever’ 
prayed for myself ;” and that other more disinterested and 
pathetic, ‘I could for the good of my country wish that the 
wounds which you have received had been inflicted upon my 
own body ,” or that of the later message, ‘‘say to General 
JACKSON that his wounds are not sosevere as mine, for he loses 
but his left arm, while I, in him, lose my right ;” or that other 
expression of unequalled magnanimity in which he ascribed 
the glory of their joint victory to the sole credit of the dying 
hero. Did I say unequalled? Yes, that was an avowal of 
unequalled magnanimity, until it met its parallel in his own 
grander self-negation, in assuming the sole responsibility 
for the failure at Gettysburg. Aye, my countrymen, Alex- 
ander had his Arbela, Cesar his Pharsalia, Napoleon bis 
Austerlitz, but it was reserved for Lee to grow grander and 
more illustrious in defeat than ever in victory—grander, 
because in defeat he showed a spirit grander than victory, 
the heroism of battles, or all the achievements of the war— 
a spirit which crowns him with a chaplet greener far than 
ever mighty conqueror wore. 

- I turn me now to that last closing scene at Appomattox, 
and draw thence, a picture of this man as he laid aside the 
sword of the unrivaled soldier, to become the most exem- 
plary of citizens. 

I can never forget the deferential homage paid this 
great captain by even the Federal soldiery, as with uncoy- 
ered heads they contemplated in mute admiration this now 
captive hero, as he rode through their ranks. Impressed 
forever, daguereotyped on my heart, is that last parting scene 
with the handful of heroes still crowding around him. Few 
indeed, were the words then spoken, but the quivering lip 
and the tearful eye told of the love they bore him, in sym- 
phonies more eloquent than any language can describe. 
Can I ever forget? No, never, never, can I forget the 
words which fell from his lips asI rode beside him amidst the 
dejected and weeping soldiery, when turning to me he said, 
«*T could wish that I were numbered among the fallen in the 
last battle,” and oh! as he thought of the loss of the cause— 
of the many dead scattered over so many fields, who sleep- 
ing neglected, with no governmental arms to gather up their 
remains, sleeping isolated, and alone beneath the tearful 
stars, with naught but their soldier blankets about them ; 
oh! as these emotions swept over his great soul he felt that 


26 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


he would fain have laid him down to rest in the same grave 
where lies buried the common hope of his people. But 
Providence willed it otherwise. He rests now forever, my 
countrymen, his spirit in the bosom of that Father whom 
he so faithfully served, his body in the Valley, surrounded 
by the mountains of his native State—mountains the au- 
tumnal glories of whose magnificent forests now seem but 
habiliments of mourning,—in the Valley, the pearly dew- 
drops on whose grass and flowers seem but tears of sadness. 

No sound shall ever wake him to martial glory again. 
No more shall he lead his invincible lines to victory. No more 
shall we gaze upon him, and draw from his quiet demeanor 
lessons of life. But oh! it is a sweet consolation to us, 
who loved him, that no more shall his bright spirit be bowed 
down to the earth with the burden of his people’s wrongs. 
It is sweet consolation to us that this last victory, through 
faith in his crucified Redeemer, is the most transcendently 
glorious of all his triumphs. 

It is meet that we should build to his memory a monu- 
ment here—here in this devoted city—here on these classic¢ 
hills—a monument as enduring as their granite founda- 
tions—here beside the river, whose banks are ever memo- 
rable and whose waters are vocal with the glories of his 
triumphs. ; 

Here let the monument stand, as a testimonial to all 
peoples and countries and ages of our appreciation of the 
mau who, in all the aspects of his career and character and 
attainments—as a great Captain, ranking among the first of 
any age—as a patriot, whose self-sacrificing devotion to his 
country renders him the peer of Washington—as a Chris- 
tian like Havelock, recognizing his duty to his God above 
every Other consideration—with a native modesty which re- 
fused to appropriate a glory all his own, and which sur- 
rounds with a halo of light his whole career and character— 
with a fidelity to principle which no misfortunes could shake 
—with an integrity of life and sacred reverence for truth 
which no man can dare to assail,—must ever stand peerless 
among men in the estimation of christendom. 


Mr. Davis then requested Col, Cus. Marsuatt, of Bal- 
timore, to address the meeting. Col. MarsHazt replied, 


that he felt unworthy to stand upon ground which had been 
occupied by the eminent speakers who had preceded him, 


REMARKS OF COLONEL MARSHALL. 27 


and therefore preferred remaining on the floor. The Chair at 


once replied, ‘‘The friend and military secretary of LEE is 
worthy to occupy any ground, sir; and insisted that Col. 
MarsHALL should come upon the stand, which he then did 
amid great applause, and spoke with great effect. 


REMARKS OF COLONEL MARSHALL. 


Nothing but an earnest desire to do all in my power to 
promote the object of our meeting to-night, induces me to 
occupy this stand. I feel my unfitness to address those who 
have listened to men whose names, I may say, without flat- 
tery, are historic,—whose valor and constaney deserved and 
enjoyed the confidence of our great leader. More especially 
am I unworthy to stand where just now he stood, who, 
amidst all the cares and trials of the eventful period during 
which he guided the destinies of the Confederacy, amidst 
all the dangers and dithculties that surrounded him, amidst 
all the vicissitudes of victory and disaster, always and 
on all occasions, gave the aid of his eminent abilities, his 
unfaltering courage and his pure patriotism, to our illus- 
trious chief. 

But on behalf of those who are with me to-night from 
Maryland, I desire to say a few words in support of the res- 
olutions of the Committee. 

These resolutious require that a monument shall be 
erected, and that it shall be erected in Richmond. 

In both propositions we most heartily concur. 

We are assembled, not to provide for the erection of a 
tombstone on which to write, ‘‘ Here lies Ropert’E. LEe,” 
but to rear a cloud-piercing monument which shall tell to 
‘coming generations, 


‘¢HeRE LiveD Ropert FE. Les.” 


We desire something worthy to transmit the lesson of 
his example, and of our undying love, to posterity, and to 
this end we invoke the aid not only of those who followed 
the flashing of his stainless sword, but of all who reverence 
the memory of his spotless life. We wish to concentrate 
all efforts upon the attainment of this great end, not that 
we may honour him, but that we may preserve, for the good 


28 - LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


of all mankind, the memory of his achievements, and the 
teaching of his example. 

And it is eminently proper that such a monument should 
be erected in Richmond. 

Here was the scence of his greatest labors and his greatest 
triumphs. In defence of this city he displayed those great 
qualities which have given him the lofty position assigned 
him by the unanimous voice of his time, and secured for 
him the love, the gratitude and the affectionate veneration 
of the people for whose liberties he fought. 


All his campaigns, all the battles, whether among the hills 
of Pennsylvania and Maryland, or upon the banks of the 
Chickahominy and the Appomattox, had for their great 
object, the protection of Richmond. 


Here lie buried the dead of every State from Maryland 
to Texas, and to this spot, to Hollywood, the hearts of 
wives, of mothers, and of sisters, from the banks of the 
Potomac to those of the Rio Grande are ever sadly but 
proudly turning. 

No other place in the South unites so entirely the sym- 
pathies and affections of her people. 

To raise his monument here within sight of the fields on 
which he won his fame, and among the graves of those 
who were faithful to him unto death, seems to us, therefore, 
to be most appropriate. We do not propose now to say 
what that monument shall be, but to adopt measures which 
will enable us to invite the taste, the cultivation, and the 
genius of our age to compete in furnishing a suitable design. 

And we hope to find some one who can rise to the height 
of the great argument, grasping the subject, realizing the 
character.and achievements of our leader, feeling the love, 
the gratitude, the veneration of our people, and grouping 
all, around this hallowed spot, write in one enduring word 
the story of General Lex, his army and his country. 

There is one other reason why we should erect a monu- 
ment, and why we should erect it here. It is that we may 
perpetuate for our guidance the lesson taught by his exam- 
ple when war was done, and all his efforts had ended in 
failure. In that lesson, the whole country has an immediate 
interest. History presents no parallel to the sudden cessa- 
tion of resistance on the part of the Southern people after 
the surrender at Appon.attox. In a few short weeks, where 
armies had but lately confronted each other, peace was 


REMARKS OF COLONEL MARSHALL. 29 


fully restored, and not an armed Southron could be found 
within our borders. 


“‘Tt seemed as if their mother earth 
Had swallowed up her warlike birth.” 


The Federal Government manifested its confidence in the 
pledges made by the soldiers and people of the Confederacy, 
by sending companies and regiments, to control these before 
whom corps and armies had fled. That government knew 
well that the handful of troops sent ostensibly to overawe 
the South could repose securely upon that honour which 
they insulted by their presence. 

And in that confidence, shame be it said, wrongs were 
inflicted upon our people, which we have the authority of 
unquestioned loyalty for saying, ought not to be meekly 
‘borne by men of English blood. 

But the Federal Government knew that the Southern 
people looked for guidance to their leaders, and that fore- 
most among those leaders, they looked to General Lex. 
He had given the pledge of his honour, and his people re- 
garded his honour as their own. 

Relying upon his influence with his countrymen, and 
knowing that his influence would be exerted to secure the 
most perfect compliance with the terms of his surrender, the 
dominant party in the North entered upon a course of sys- 
tematic oppression and insult which would have justified him 
in renouncing the obligations of the terms made at Appo- 
mattox. 

But his word was given and nothing could change it. 
The dastardly wrongs inflicted upon his people could break, 
and did break his great heart, but could not make him 
swerve from his truth. He bore all in silence until he died, 
and his people looked upon him and gathered strength to 
bear. 

New outrages upon our liberties and rights, new insults 
to our honour, may tempt us sometimes to forget that our 
hands no longer hold the sabre or the rifle. To whom shall 
swe turn for that strength which will enable us to keep faith 
with the faithless ? 

We can no longer see the noble example which he set be- 
fore us, but that we may not err from the path in which he 
trod, let us here, at the place towards which the eyes and 
hearts of all our people turn, rear a monument, to which 
when tempted to resist, we may look, and learn afresh the 


30 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


lesson of that sublime patience which he illustrated, and 
which, my fellow-soldiers and countrymen, be assured, will 
like the anvil, wear out many hammers. 


Colonel MarsHaLL was succeeded by General Henry A. 
Wise, who spoke as follows : 


REMARKS OF GENERAL WISE. 


Mr. PRESIDENT AND COMRADES OF THE CONFEDERACY— 
I cannot trust the fullness of my heart at the moment of this 
meeting to prompt my lips with the words becoming the 
bier of General Rosert EK. Lue, whose death has called 
together some of his surviving comrades. 

It is no occasion for any sketch of biography or history ; 
eulogy upon his life and death is vain ; his character excels 
all praise ; his merits need not to be disclosed and his faults 
had no ‘‘dread abodes,” for they all leaned to virtue’s side. 
Whatever faults he had, and whatever blame belonged to 
him, no friend or foe could point them out half as readily as 
his truthful ingenuousness would admit and mourn them. 
He was swifter than the accuser to accuse himself, and ever 
generous to the faults of others; he was ever foremost to 
acknowledge his own. If nothing is to be said of the dead 
but what is good, there is a super-abundance of good in his 
life and death to compose volumes for the instruction of 
mankind. Heis departed and gone to his Father, but it 
cannot be said of him that he is ‘‘no more.” His fame is 
left to earth for all time—his great and good soul is in 
heaven for all eternity; and from his example proceeds a 
moral power and divine force which all the arms of earth 
and powers of darkness cannot subdue, a wisdom and virtue 
which shall hover over the land he loved, and spread it with 
the fruits of righteousness and truth. That is enough to be 
said of him, and it is left for us to cherish his memory, and 
keep the legacies of lessons he taught. 

The first fruit of his demise is the happy result of bringing 
us together, for the first time since he gave up the sword 
which he accepted with the pledge to devote it to the gods 
and the altars of his home, and to sheath it only when his 
work was finished. He sheathed it not until his whole duty 
was discharged and his work was done. He made us honour, 
love and confide in him, and taught us how to deserve the 
honor, love and confidence of each other; and I pray you 


REMARKS OF GENERAL HENRY A. WISE. ; “oe 


now to form a brotherhood in peace which shall perpetuate 
our comradeship in war, worthy of the armies of the Con- 
federacy and of their illustrious chief. 

Tn its initiation let it be like what the Cincinnati Society 
after the first American Revolution was to WasuHineton, 
full of affections and memories of which the great Chief 
was the centre, but let it never fail or expire as the Cincin- 
nati did, for reason or suspicion even of any designs of pal- 
try party politics. Let our standards be still the standard 
of Rosert E. Les—God, Religion, Honour, Truth and our 
Country! Let us vnite in one grand Confederate brother- 
hood, with subordinate, auxiliary organizations for each Con- 
federate army, to foster our affections, to cherish our memo- 
ries, and to preserve our history. There is a necessity for 
all this ; for we are scattered and separated from each other, 
and may lose our fellow-feeling ; we are fast dying away 
from memory, and may soon be forgotten ; and the spoiler 
is n w busily and rapidly taking from us, by the pen, the 
truth of history, more precious to us than all the spoils of 
war which were ever captured by his sword. 

This, I trust, will be the main object of this meeting. 
Mourn we must, in silent submission to God’s will, but we. 
must act to save what is most precious to us and our children, 
as well as grieve for what is lost. 

We have lost much, but we did muck. We were obliged 
to fail, and we did fail, but what men on earth ever did more, 
or as much, in a struggle for ‘“‘ hope against hope?” Will 
Paris, with her millions, stand as long as Richmond did? 
Will the Belle of Nations, that lily of their garden, France, 
endure against equal odds as long as the devoted Confede- 
racy stood against all the odds of all the earth? Passing 
events point to the justice due us, and we will not be true 
to ourselves if we neglect or omit to claim our own in 
history. Contrasts now casting lights and shadows on earth 
are illustrating causes of failures in battles and causes of the 
downfall of nations. We fell in weakness of mere num- 
bers, and there are causes for that weakness which we must 
scan. And we have not only attections to foster, memories 
to cherish, truth to preserve, but liberties to be regained. This 
is a great work, and we ought to be up and about it. 

Monuments are but mites compared with this work. 
General Lzx’s remains are in a Temple of the Living God, 
selected by himself for the depository of his body amidst 
the last of his labors. Stone and mortar can’t add one 


ae LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


cubit to his stature ; his monument is in the heart of the 
‘Confederacy ; and on that topic I have but a word to add: 
that I would delight to see a design of true art placed 
over or at his tomb ; no meretricious mockery of all taste, 
such as Northern mechanics have put upon the monument 
of GrorcE WASHINGTON in the Capitol Square of this metrop- 
olis, but a work of some native artist of the South, like that 
of Houpon, worthy of the man it moulds. "We havean artist 
here, Mr. Epwarp VALENTINE, of Richmond, who has already 
made the plaster speak a very LEE, and he can make the 
Parian express him to the very life. 

And now, sir, pardon, I pray you, the egotism of an old 
man when I add that the age of General Lee was within a 
few days the same as my own. I was with him from the 
very first to the very last of his campaigns. I honored, loved 
and obeyed him for four years. He has, in the words of 
his last moments, struck his tent. In a very short time I 
shall receive the mandate to strike my tent too, and I now 
pray that when that order comes to you and to me, that 
we may all be ready to follow him in the march to that 
‘‘bourne whence no traveler returns,”—to join him in that 
innumerable army of the Captain of Salvation, who is invin- 
* cible, who hath demanded of Death his sting, and of the 

grave its victory. There is no more sting for General Lex, 
and his now is the victory. In defeaf he was glorious, 
and in death more than victorious. 


Colonel Wm. Preston JoHNSON, of Kentucky, next oc- 
-coupied the stand. 


REMARKS OF COL. WM. PRESTON JOHNSON. 


Mr. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW-soLDIERS:—A few minutes 
since, I was informed that I was expected to address you. 
This unexpected honour greatly embarrasses me, tired with 
two days’ travel, just off the cars, and physically unfit to ap- 
pear before you. It would ill become me moreover to follow 
with any elaborate attempt the golden-mouthed orator of 
Virginia, or to utter panegyric after him whose lightest word 
makes history ; and who, while he stood at the head of the 
Confederacy, never failed to cheer his chosen Captain with 
counsel and comfort, or to uphold his arm in the hour of 
battle, with all the force at his command. It would ill be- 
-come me here, surrounded by the soldiers who shared in 


REMARKS OF COLONEL PRESTON JOHNSON. 33 


the glories of Lue, and after the speeches of his trusted mil- 
itary friends and of his great Lieutenants, who rode down 

with him to battle, to pa nt again the meridian splendor of 
“his great campaigns. But if you are willing to listen to 
some brief passages of his latter life, I will not detain you 
long. 

Tt was my fortune after the war to be called from my dis- 
tant home in Kentucky by a request, which in the mouth of 
General Luz, was to m2 equivalent to a command. For four 
years [ have watched with reverential affection the final 
scenes of that life, so magnificent in achievements and then 
so beautiful towards its end. When he had gone down 
through the bitter waters of Appomattox from the martial 
glories of the war to the quiet of civic pursuits, that life, 
always consecrated to duty, was rounded to a perfect close. 
Turning his face tothe desolated land for which he had done 
and suffered so much, he stretche1 forth his hand to staunch 
the wounds he had been unable to avert, and that hand will- 
ingly did the work it found to do. As Presideat of Wash- 
ington College, teaching the sons of his soldiers by precept 
and example, he presented to the world, the noble spectacle 
of one who could take up the severed threads of a career, 
broken by disastzr, and bind them in all their former strength 
and usefulness. Here in the sunset of his days shone forth 
his exalted worth, the wonderful tenderness of his nature, 
and the dignity and composure of his soul. As an illustra- 
tion of some of these qualities, I may mention that the last 
hours of his active life were spent in a vestry-m2eting, where 
I was present, and that he there evinced great solicitude 
that the veteran Soldier of the Cross, who served as his min- 
ister, should be secure of a decent maintenance, and that 
the House of God where he worshipped should be a not un- 
worthy temple to His name. Yet eventhere, he passed the 
few minutes preceding the meeting in smoothing away the 
asperities springing from differences of opinion, with play- 
ful anecdote and pleasant reminiscence of that saintly ser- 
vant of God, Bishop Meade, and that noble pillar of consti- 
tutional jurisprudence, Chief Justice Marshall. 

Fifteen minutes after we parted from him he was stricken 
with his last illness, and during this, it was sometimes my sad 
duty to minister to his needs. I feel that in an assembly 
where every heart throbs with sorrow for our departed chief- 
tain, I violate no confidence by adverting to a death-bed 
every way worthy of the life it ended. Once in the solemn 


34 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


watches of the night, when I handed him the prescribed 
nourishment, he turned upon me a look of friendly recog- 
nition, and then cast down his eyes with such a sadness in 
them that I can never forget it. But he spoke not a word ; 
and this not because he was unable, for when he chose, he 
did speak brief sentences with distinct enunciation, but be- 
cause, before friends or family or physicians feared the im- 
pending stroke, he saw the open portals of death and chose 
to wrap himself in an unbroken silence as he went down to 
enter them. He, against whom no man conld charge, in a 
long life, a word that should not have been spoken, chose to- 
leave the deeds of that life to speak for him. To me, this 
woful silence, this voiceless majesty, was the grandest fea- 
ture of that grand death. 

I did not come here to-night expecting to speak; but as 
the opportunity is afforded me, I cannot forbear to remove 
the great misapprehension, by whatsoever means and for 
whatsoever purposes propagated, that I discover in Rich- 
mond, as to the burial of General Lez. I claim the right 
to disabuse your minds as to the conduct of the authorities 
of Washington Colleg:, and the people of Rockbridge, by 
a calm statement of facts. When General LEE died, our 
people only did that which we could not have left undone, with- 
out disrespect to the dead, disregard to the feelings of the liy- 
ing, and disgrace to ourselves. We tendered a vault for the 
deposit of the honoured remains, not only without stipula- 
tion as to retaining them, but with the express assurance to: 
Mrs. Les, thatif at any time she should desire their removal, 
her slightest wish would be respected. This offer was ac- 
cepted, and the hands of soldiers committed the great Soldier 
to the tomb. We considered the decision of where his final 
resting-place should be, a subject too delicate and too sacred 
for discussion, much less altercation, and felt that the sure 
instinct of domestic affection would furnish the safest guide. 
To the bereaved widow, unconstrained by popular clamor, 
belonged the custody of the dead, and the right to weep. 
over the loved and the lost was more sacred than even the 
gratification of a laudable State pride. When we had 
placed him in the grave, we resolved to decorate his tomb 
in a manner worthy of the spot where he lay; for even if 
his ashes were removed, his spirit would abide with us, and 
preside over us, and should be honoured with fitting memo- 
rials. When the request for his removal was made by the 
Legislature, the soldiers who had followed his coffin, in 


REMARKS OF COLONEL PRESTON JOHNSON. 35 


coming from his burial said they would esteem it a high 
honour to guard the sacred dust, if his family approved ; 
and the hearts of all our people responded. Certainly an 
honour, certainly a sacred charge, certainly asure influence 
for good among all the hundreds of representative young 
men who would keep constant watch and ward in solemn 
vigil about the tomb! And even if hereafter these earthly 
relics are borne away, a mighty memory will remain where 
he stood and wrought and died. Most assuredly I am 
swayed by no merely local feeling. If born upon another 
soil, yet the blood of a Virginian ancestry flows in my veins, 
and it was to offer my sword in defence of Virginia, that I 
left my native State. I know the heroism of this city, for 
T stood within its five-girdled walls in the hour of its greatest 
straits, and oh! how well do I remember the bitter agony 
and the heart breaks ot those years. I know that it was in 
the protection of this city that General Lex won his just re- 
nown. Yes! here is the place to build a monument, here 
is the spot to rear a cenotaph to him who stood like a rock 
of defence before you. My colleagues and I will do our 
full share towards this noble expression of a natiou’s love ; 
and the people of the Valley who followed him and fought 
for you, will delight to help raise in this capital city of the 
Confederacy a splendid and enduring monument to his fame. 
But if the hearts of his family should decide that the proper 
resting place of the great hero is where it would keep un- 
broken the family circle, and leave it to repose amid the 
scenes of his last labors, in the very chapel built as it were by 
his own hands, at the home where he chose to live and chose 
to die; his old soldiers here will not grudge to the faithful 
hearts he had calledaround him in bis last years, the privilege 
and the honour of guarding his tomb. When I speak of 
the chapel he built with his own hands, out of the first fruits 
of the offerings of the South to enable him to carry out his 
work of education, I go but little beyond the literal fact. 
His hand tried with piummet and trowel almost every stone 
in the massive foundation of that stately structure, and the 
fact has a melancholy significance when we reflect that it 
encloses his tomb. I said he chose to live and to die at 
Lexington. No action of his admirable life was an accident, 
and it was with a settled purpose that he took charge of the 
education of the youth of the South. When oppressed by 
overwhelming numbers, he selected this retreat. You may 
remember that it was these mountains that WasH- 


36 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


INcton named as the fortress of American freedom; 
and where, as you have heard, General Lr said he could 
keep the enemy at bay twenty years ; and here he spent the 
remnant of his days in usefulness and honour. 

And now, comrades, I have only to add that, while a beau- 
tiful memorial will be erected above the present tomb of 
General Lzz to testify our love and reverence, I trust no effort 
will be spared to rear in Richmond a stately monument to 
his fame, worthy of the man and of the cause in which he 
suffered, 

Col. Ropert E. Wirumrs, of Virginia, followed in sup 
port of the resolutions. 


REMARKS OF COL. ROBERT E. WITHERS. 


Mr. PRESIDENT AND Comrapes:—After the gorgeous 
offerings, which, in such rich profusion, have been laid in 
votive heaps on the tomb of our departed hero, it is per- 
haps but meet that I should appear bearing the feeble tri- 
bute of my love, and with respectful reverence place the 
modest chaplet on the same holy shrine; for I stand before 
you the representative of the mass of officers and men of 
his command. It was to have been expected that the com- 
panions of his earlier years and the friends of his later 
manhood—that those enleared by the sweets of daily social 
intercourse, and yet more, those trusted heroes who launched 
with red right hand the bolts of his admirable strategy upon 
the fore-front of the enemy—that these should give utter- 
ance to feelings of high appreciation, of profound admira- 
tion, of reverential regard. But I can lay claim to no 
such enviable intimacy. My personal intercourse with 
General LEE was unfrequent ; yet I, in common with every 
ragged and dust-begrimed soldier who followed his ban- 
ner, loved him with deepest devotion. And why was this 
the predominant sentiment of his soldiery? The answer is 
obvious: Because he loved Jis men. His military achieve- 

ments may have been rivalled, possibly surpassed, by other 
great commanders. Alexander, Marlborough, Wellington, 
Napoleon, each and all excited the admiration, enjoyed the 
confidence, and aroused the enthusiasm of their soldiers; 
but none of these were loved as Lze was loved. 

They considered their soldiers as mere machines prepared 
to perform a certain part in the great drama of the battle- 
field. They regarded not the question of human life as a 





REMARKS OF COLONEL ROBERT E. WITHERS. 37 


controlling element in their calculations,—with unmoved 
eye and unquickened pulse, they hurled their solid columns 
against the very face of destruction, without reck or care 
for the destruction of life involved. But General Lex never 
forgot that his men were fellow-beings as well as soldiers. 
He cared for them with parental solicitude, nor ever relaxed 
in his efforts to promote their comfort and protect their 
lives. Astriking exemplification of this trait can be found 
in the fact, that it was his constant habit to turn over to the 
sick and wounded soldiers in the hospital such delicate 
viands as the partiality of friends furnished for his personal 
corsumption, preferring for himself the plain fare of the 
camp, that his sick soldiers might enjoy the unwonted lux- 
uries. These facts were well known throughout the army ; 
and hence his soldiery, though often ragged and emaciated, 
though suffering from privations, and cold, and nakedness, 
never faltered in their devotion, or abated one tittle of their 
love for him. They knew it was not his fault. 

Of the indignities and injuries inflicted on General LEE 
and his countrymen it becomes us not now tospeak. Ihave 
no resentiul feelings towards those who met us in manly 
conflict, but the atrocities perpetrated since the war upon a 
defenceless people arouse such a storm of passionate re- 
membrance as neither the solemnity of the occasion nor 
the sanctity of the place will suflice,to quell. I can only 
raise my eyes to Lrn’s God, and pray for grace to forgive as 
I hope to be forgiven. 

The resolutions proposed by the Committee meet with 
my hearty approval. Monumental rewards are but the ex- 
pression of a nation’s gratitude for distinguished service, 
and reverence for the migi.ty dead. They are not designed 
to do honour to the dead, but mark the respect and love of 
the livipg; and surely no one has commanded such respect 
and gratitude, or excited such love as our late commander. 
Whether the monument be reared in Richmond or in Lex- 
ington,—whether it casts its shadows over the rushing waters 
of the James, or bathes its summit in the pure air of the 
mountains, amid which his parting spirit took its upward 
flight, it will cause all who gaze upon it to feel their hearts. 
more pure, their gratitude more warm, their sense of duty 
more exalted, and their love of country touched by a holier 
flame. But neither classic bust, nor monumental marble, 
nor lofty cenotaph, nor stately urn, nor enduring bronze, 


38 LEE MEMORIAL MEETING. 


* 


nor everlasting granite, can add to his glory in this land he 
loved so well—for here 


““The meanest rill, the mightiest river, 
Roll mingling with his fame forever.” 


After which the resolutions, as reported, were unani- 
mously adopted, and the following officers of the Lee Monu- 
ment Association therein recommended, were declared 
elected. 


President. 
Lieutenant-General JUBAL A. EARLY. 


Secretary. 
Colonel T. M. R. TALCOTT. 


Treasurer. 
Colonel WILLIAM H. PALMER. 


‘Auditor. 
Sergeant CHARLES P. ALLEN. 


Executive Committee. 
Col. WALTER H. TAYLOR. Gen. BRADLEY T. JOHNSON. 
Major ROBERT STILES. Capt. R. D. MINOR, 
ROBERT H. MAURY, Esq. 

Leaving two vacancies in the Executive Committee to be 
filed by the President. 

General B. T. JoHNnson gave notice of a meeting to be 
held at the Theatre, at 11 A. M., of the next day, for the 
purpose of organizing the Association of the survivors of 
the Army of Northern Virginia. 

The meeting then adjourned sine die. 


MEETING 


OF THE 


fremy OF NorrHERN VIRGINIA, 


IN THE 


RICHMOND THEATRE, NOVEMBER 4TH, 1870. 


President. 
Lieutenant-General JUBAL A. EARLY. 


Corresponding Secretary 
Colonel WALTER H. TAYLOR. 


Recording Secretary. . 
Colonel CHARLES S. VENABLE. 


Treasurer. 
Colonel CHARLES MARSHALL. 





Executive Committee. 
Brig. Gen’l1 BRADLEY T. JOHNSON, Chairman. 
Colonel ROBERT E. WITHERS. 
Colonel JOHN 8. MOSBY. 
Colonel THOMAS H. CARTER. 
Major ROBERT STILES. 
Brig. Gen] JAMES H. LANE. 
Capt. J. HAM. CHAMBERLAYNE. 
Serg’t J. VanLEW McCREERY. 
Capt. MANN PAGE. 
Brig. Gen’] W. H. PAYNE. 





- 


VICE PRESIDENTS AND ASSISTANTS APPOINTED BY THE 
PRESIDENT. 
Maryland— Major-General J. R. Triuprr, Vice President. 


Brig. General Grorcr H. Sruarr 
Colonel R. SNowpEn ANDREWs, 


Virginia— Major-General Frrznucu Len, Vice President. 


2 Assistants. 


Brig. General Wm. B. Taviarerro, ( Assistants in Hast- 
Brig. General James L. Kemrer,  § ern Virginia. 


40 APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS. 


Brig. General Jonn McCavstanp, ( Assistants in West- 
Colonel Jonx S. HoFrrMay, J ern Viirginia. 


Kentucky—Major-General Jonny C. BrecKINrIDGE, Vice President. 


Brig. General Bastt DvKe, / 


Colonel G. Sropparp JOHNSTON, § gS 


Tennessee—Lieut General R. S. Ewer, Vice Preside 


Brig. General VavuGHan, 
The senior surviv ing officer of the Tennes- > Assistants. 
see regiments in Arcuer’s old brigade. 


N. Carolina—Major-General D. H. Hirt, Vice President. 


Major-General R. F. Horr, / 
Brig. General ScaLEs, 5 


S. Carolina—Lieut. General Wapr Hampton, Vice President. 
Major-General J. B. Kersnaw, / 


Brig. General McGowan, \ Assistants. 
Georgia— Major-General Joun B. Gorpvon, Vice President. 
Brig. General A. R. Wricnt, ‘ 
Assistants. 


Brig. “General BENNING, 


Alabama— Brig. General Barrie, Vice President. 


Brig. General Forney, ¢ Sisahed 
Colonel E. A. O’Ngat, § ~ Ss. 


Mississippi—Lieut. General S. D. Ler, Vice President. 
“Brig. General B. G. Humpnreys, / 


Brig. General W. T. Marry, — 5 “S!Stants. 


Louisiana— General G. T. BEatrEGARD, Vice President. 


Brig. General Dapney H. Mavry, / Aenictiniig ; 
Brig. General Wu. R. Peck, See rE ae 
Arkansas— Brig. General W. L. Casett, Vice President. 
The two senior surviving officers of the ) 
Arkansas regiments which were in the ~ Assistants. 
Army of Northern Virginia, 


Texas— Brig. General Ropinxson, Vice President. 
The senior surviving officer of the regiments } 
of Rosryson’s brigade, Assistants. 
Major Wu. P. TownsEenp, 


Florida— _ Brig. General Perry, Vice President. 


The two senior surviving officers of the. reg 


t 
so 
iments in Perry’s brigade, N Assistants, 


ARMY MEETING. 


Pursuant to appointment of the preceding evening, the 
officers and soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia met 
at the Theatre at eleven o’clock on Friday morning. 

The meeting was called to order by Col. Rozsert E. 
WITHERS, on whose motion General Earty was elected: 


Chairman, and developed the objects of the meeting in his. 
opening address. 


REMARKS OF GHNERAL EARLY. 


GENTLEMEN :—I thank vou sincerely for the kind feelings 
you manifest towards me, but this meeting has been called 
for business, and the occasion is not one for speaking. Be-. 
fore I take my seat, however, I desire to say to you that it 
comes within my own knowledge, that our lamented Com- 
mander was preparing to write a history of the campaigns 
of the Army of Northern Virginia. The execution of this 
work by him has been prevented by his death, and it devolves 
upon the survivors of that Army to see that the truth of his- 
tory is vindicated, and that the deeds of themselves and 
their fallen comrades are not transmitted to posterity, through 
the medium of crude histories compiled by mercenary writers; 
{rom the accounts of newspaper correspondents, who remained 
in the rear and never went to the front, or in the libellous 
productions of our adversaries, who have been constantly 
engaged, and are now engaged in the effort to make our 
cause and its adherents odious, by all the arts of writing, 
speaking, painting, and illustrative printing, as well as by 
penal enactments. Books purporting to be histories of our 
late war have been published, with the claim that they were 
written with the sanction and by the authority of General 
Lee ; and I take this occasion to state to you that I have it 
from his own lips, that he never gave his sanction to any 

(41) 


F ARMY MEETING. 


such publications. I make this statement because I know 
that intelligent foreigners have been misled by this claim, as 
they could not understand how any writer could have the 
impudence to make such pretensions, unless they were 
‘founded in truth. General Lex was not in the habit of cor- 
recting misrepresentations of his words and acts in the pub- 
lic prints, as, conscious of his own rectitude, he was willing 
to trust the vindication of his character to his country, his 
soldiers, and his God. His views on this subject I happened 
to learn from a gentle rebuke he once gave me, when I 
undertook to correct a misrepresentation of a correspondent 
in regard to myself—an offence I did not repeat after that 
rebuke. On that occasion, he informed me that he rarely 
ever read the papers, unless when some staff officer brought 
them to him aud called his attention to something of especial 
importance. 

As confirmatory of what was so e!oquently said by Presi- 
dent Davis last night, in regard to General Lex’s extended 
views of patriotism and his devotion to the whole South, 
and as indicative of his constant regard for, and his desire 
to do justice to the soldiers who fought under him, I will 
read you some extracts from two letters from him to myself, 
and I do this not from any feelings of egotism, but because 
I wish to give you his own words. I must say to you, that 
just as I was leaving the country on my voluntary exile, I 
wrote him a letter, to be sent as soon as I was beyond the 
reach of danger ; that i is, [reported to him as my commander, 
as I did immediately on my return to the State, for I always 
considered him as such to the hour of his death; and now 
that he is gone, I will endeavor to follow his precepts and 
example, as far as a sinful mortal can do. In answer to my 
letter, he wrote me the one I now hold in my hand, which 
is dated at ‘‘Lexington, November 22nd, 1865,” and which 
reached me at Nassau, New Providence. From that letter 
I read you the following extracts, omitting what is personal 
to myself. He says: 


‘“Lexineton, November 22, 1865. 

* * * * * Jam very glad to hear of your health and safety, but 
regret your absence from the country, though I fully undgrstand your 
feelings on the subject. I think the South requires the presence of all 
her sons now more than at any period of her history, and I determined 
at the outset of her difficulties to share the fateof my people. * * * * 
I desire, if not prevented, to write a history of the campaigns in Virginia. 


REMARKS OF GENERAL EARLY. 43 


All my records, books, orders, &c., were destroyed in the conflagration 
and retreat from Richmond. Only such of my reports as were printed 
are preserved. Your reports of your operations in 64 and 65 are among 
those destroyed. Cannot you repeat them and send me copies of such 
letters, orders, &c., of mine (including the last letter to which you refer), 
and particularly give me your recollection of our effective strength at the 
principal battles? My only object is to transmit, if possible, the truth 
‘to posterity, and do justice to our brave soldiers.” 


When I arrived at Havana, in December, 1865, 1 saw the 

reports of Secretary Stanton and General Grant, of the 
military operations of the years 1864 and 1865, containing 
many errors of fact. Provoked by these, and also by some 
newspaper statements, about my having applied for pardon, 
I wrote a letter to the New York News, which perhaps some 
of you saw and read. It was such a letter as General LEE 
would not have written himself, because he was a man of 
unlimited self-control, whereas I au accustomed to speak 
and write just as I feel, and sometimes I use what some 
would regard as strong language. That letter was written 
just in that view. Again, on reaching the City of Mexico, 
I found a Northern journal, which has long been in the habit 
of slandering our people, both by its articles and its illus- 
trations, which contained a very abusive article in regard to 
Mr. Davis, written by one who had held a commission in 
the Confederate Army, and I had also learned that some 
who took especial pains to be out of the country during the 
war, though they professed to be very strong Confederates 
after the close, were in the habit of speaking very harshly 
of our President. Indignant at all this, I wrote a letter in 
vindication of him, in which I took especial care to speak my 
sentiments freely about those who were engaged in the work 
of defaming that great and good man, who then was sufter- 
ing a cruel imprisonment and persecution for the cause in 
which all of us had been engaged. This letter was first pub- 
lished in the Mexican Times, (Governor ALLEN’s paper), and 
afterwards in some of the American papers. I make this 
statement in order that you may understand the allusions in 
the second letter to me, which was in answer to one of mine, 
and is dated the 15th of March, 1866. In that letter Gen- 
-eral LEE says: 


“Tt will be difficult to get the world to understand the odds against 
which we fought, and the destruction and loss of all of the returns of the 
sarmy embarrasses me very much. I read your letter from Havana to the 


¢ 


44 ARMY MEETING. 


New York News with much interest, and was pleased with the temper 
in which it was written. JI have since received the paper containing it 
published in the City of Mexico, and also your letter in reference to Mr. 
Davis. Iunderstand and appreciate the motive which prompted both 
letters, and think they will be of service in the way you intended, I 
have been much pained to see the attempts made to cast odium upon Mr, 
Davis, but do not think they will be successful with the reflecting or 
informed portion of the country. The accusations against myself I haye 
not thought proper to notice, or even to correct misrepresentations of my 
words and acts. We shall have to be patient and suffer for a while at. 
least, and all controversy, I think, will only serve to prolong angry and 
bitter feelings, and postpone the time when reason and charity may 
resume their sway. At present the public mind is not prepared to receive 
the truth. 


* * * * * T hope, in time, peace will be restored to the country, 


and that the South may enjoy some measure of prosperity. I fear, how— 
ever, that much suffering is still in store for her, and that her people must 
be prepared to exercise fortitude and forbearance.” 


You must recollect, my friends, that these letters were 
written by a Virginian who had thought it his duty to remain 
and share the fate of his people, whatever it might be, to 
another Virginian who had taken upon himself a voluntary 
ex le which he then expected to be perpetual. They were 
written under circumstances that induced the supposition 
that they would never meet the eye of any one but him to 
whom they were written. Yeu will see that General Lxz, 
though he was a Virginian in every proper sense of the term, 
did not confine his patriotism and his attections to his native 
State, but embraced the whole South, and claimed her peo- 
ple as his people ; and what a glorious privilege it was to be 
a part of his people! You will also perceive his great anx- 
iety to do justice to the soldiers who fought under him, and 
for whom he cherished a paternal affection as long as he 
lived. The history which he was prevented from writing,. 
must be written by some one competent to the task, and the 
world must be made to know that Confederate soldiers are 
not ashamed of the great struggle they made for constitu- 
tional liberty, and regret nothing, in that respect, except that 
they fai'ed to accomplish their great purpose. The mate- 

rials for that history must be furnished by those who par- 
ticipated in the struggle and were in a condition to know 
and understand the facts, and that will be one of the prime 
objects of the Association which it is now proposed to form. 


PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 


45 


On mot'on of General Trimsxz, of Maryland, the follow- 
ing Committee on Permanent Organization was appointed : 
ON PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 


Maj. Gen’l J. R. Trmszez. 
Col. R. T. Presvon. 

Maj. Gen’l C. W. Fietps. 
Maj. Gen’l Jno. B. Gorpon. 
Brig. Gen’l Grorece Sruart. 


Col. WatrEer H. Taytor. 
Private A. WaRwIoK. 
Private BE. S. Greeory. 
Capt. J. H. CHAMBERLAYNE. 
Capt. Mann Page. 


The Committee, after a brief absence, recommended the 
following Permanent Organization, and the report was 


‘unanimously adopted : 


President— 
Vice-Presidents— 
-Maj. Gen’l] Gro, E. Proxert. 
Maj. Gen’l Ep. Jounson. 
Maj. Gen’] Dasney H. Maury. 
Private Grorer E. Harrison, 
Lieut. A. C. Trice. 
Col. WILLIAM WHITE. 
Secretaries— 
‘Capt. J. H. CHAMBERLAYNE. 
Private E. 8. Gregory. 


Lieut. Gen’l Jupan A. Earty. 


Brig. Gen’] Wit11AM.SMIrTH. 
Col. WooLpRIDGE. 

Private SPENOER, Jr. 
Lieut. W. W. Rosinson. 
Private Lrstiz SPENCE. 





Major R. W. Hunter. 


On motion of Gen. Brapizy T. Jounson, the following 
Committee was appointed to report a plan for the organiza- 
‘tion of the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia : 
‘ON THE ASSOCIATION OF THE ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA. 


Brig. Gen’] Brapizy T. Jonnson. 
Brig. Gen’! Wm. N. PENDLETON. 
Col. E. J. Harvie. 

Maj. Wm. 8. BassincEr. 
Brig. Gen’! Stra Barron. 

_ Maj. Gen’] Ep. Jounson. 
Maj. Gen’l Firzavuen LEE. 

i Serg’t WALTER Barr. 

Brig. Gen’] M. D. Corsz. 

‘Col. R. SNowpren ANDREWS. 


Private JERVIS SPENOER. 
Col. Henry KE. Pryron. 
Capt. J. MoHenry Howarp. 
Private JAMEs TILLMAN. 
Private O. G. Kean. 

Major Jep Horonxiss. 
Major A. W. GarBER. 

Brig. Gen’l J. H. Lane. 
Maj. Gen’l Joun B. Gorpon. 
Lieut. F. C. Srry@Lurr. 


The Committee made the following report : 


Resolved, 1. That this meeting will at once adopt a plan of organiza- 
sfion for an association of the Army of Northern Virginia. 


46 ARMY MEETING. 


Resolved, 2. That we earnestly request that similar organizations be 
formed by the officers and men of all the armies, and by the nayy of the 
Confederate States, in order that the friendships formed may be per- 
petuated, and that the memory of the deeds achieved by the Confederate 
arms, on land and sea, may be preserved and the truth of history vindi- 
cated, and justice done to the living and the dead. 


PLAN OF ORGANIZATION FOR THE ARMY OF 
NORTHERN VIRGINIA. 


I. 


This Organization shall be called the ASSOCIATION 
OF THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, 


II. 


Its object shall be the preservation of the friendships that 
were formed in that Army ; the perpetuation of its fame, 
and the vindication of its achievements. To this end, the 
Association will collect materials for a future history of it, 
and will hold au annual meeting at times and places to be 
selected therefor. 


III. 


The Officers shall consist of a President, Corresponding 
Secretary, Recording Secretary, Treasurer, and an Execu- 
tive Committee of ten members, and one Vice-President and 
two Assistants in each State and District which furnished 
troops to the Army of Northern Virginia. 


VE 


The President shall preside at all meetings, and, im his 
absence, the Senior Vice-President shall preside, and shall, 
with the Executive Committee, call extra meetings of the 
Association. 


Wie 


The Vice-Presidents, with their Assistants, shall form 


a 


ON ORGANIZATION. AT 


associations in each State for which they are appointed, to be 
called Divisions, named after the State iu which it is formed, 
over which State Association such Vice-President shall pre- 
side, having like powers within his Division as the 
President has in the General Association. 


Wie. 


There shall be formed in each State sub-associations to 
the State Division, to be called sections, which shall be num- 
bered and named, and shall receive a warrant for their 
organization from the Presiding officer of the State Division. 


Vir. 


Each State Division and each section of each State 
Division shall have a President, two Vice-Presidents, two 
Secretaries and Treasurer, and an Executive Committee of 
five, to be chosen by the body over which they preside. 


vit. 


Each State Division and each section shall meet at such 
times and places as they may select, not less than once in 
each year, and shall collect materials for the history of the 
Army of Northern Virginia, which materials shall be 
deposited with the Recording Secretary of the General 


Association. 
ER 


The Executive Committee shall nominate to general 
meetings of the Association officers for the Association ; 
shall have power to revise this Constitution, and shall have 
charge, generally, of the business and affairs of the Asso- 
ciation. 

All officers shall be chosen annually. 

The President and Vice-Presidents of each State Division 
shall be ex-officio Vice-Presidents and Assistants of the Gen- 
eral Association. 


48 ’ ARMY MEETING. 


The Executive Committee shall be chosen by the Presi- 
dent and Vice-Presidents. 

The Committee reported the following officers for the 
Association. 


For President—Lieut-General Jopat A. Earty. 
Corresponding Secretary—Colonel Water Tayror. 
Recording Secretary—Colonel Cuar.es 8. VENABLE. 
Treasurer—Colonel CHARLES MARsHALt. 


And closed their report with the following resolution. 


Resolved, 3. That the President shall have power to appoint an Execu- 
“tive Committee and Vice-Presidents and assistants for each State Divis- 
ion, who shall exercise their functions until their successors are regularly 
elected or appointed, as provided for in the plan of organization. 


REMARKS OF GENERAL JOHNSON. 


In presenting the report of the committee, General JoHn- 
Son said : 


CoMRADES AND FRIENDS.—I have been instructed to report 
the plan just read for the organization of the Association of 
the Army of Northern Virginia. 

That plan proposes a General Association, of which Gen- 
eral Earuy is to be President, with Secretaries, Treasurer, 
and an Executive Committee of ten, together with a Vice- 
President and two assistants for each State, who are to be 
members of the General Association, and who are charged 
swith the duty of organizing the society in the States to 
which they belong. These State societies are called Divisions, 
and are to have subordinate to them, sub-societies to be called 
‘Sections. The Sections report to the Divisions and the 
Divisions to the Association. The duty of all, is to collect 
materials for history, muster, rolls, and all other informa- 
tion relative to the Army of Northern Virginia, and forward 
them to the General Society, in whose archives they will be 
deposited, in charge of Colonel VENABLE, as Recording Secre- 
tary. Thus we will accumulate whatever we can of mate- 
rial for future history, that the achievements of that army 
anay be perpetuated and justice be done our dead comrades, 
ourselves, and the cause for which they fell. 

We hope, by future meetings, to preserve the friendships, 
‘forme’ in the service of our country, and as long as we live, 


REMARKS OF GENERAL JOHNSON. 49 


to show the world and our fellow-countrymen, how proud we 
are of the part which it has been our good fortune to have 
borne, in our great contest tor civil liberty. 

Among the greatest crimes known to civilization is the 
mutilation of the corpses, and the desecration of the memo- 
ries of the dead. And yet so far as we are concerned, 
such has been the treatment which our departed comrades 
have experienced at the hands of our conquerors. 

After the surrender of the Contederate Armies, all our 
records and thearchives of our Adjutant General’s office were 
taken possession of at Charlotte, North Carolina, and they 
are now preserved in a special bureau at Washington. The 
evi‘lence they contain is, for us, invaluable. And yet, within 
the last few months, when application was made by a gen- 
tleman of rank now before me, for leave to examine those 
records, in order to get information for the use.of the highest 
authority as to this war, recognized by youand me, he was 
informed that all inquiries wonld be answered, but no ex- 
amination of them would be allowed by him. 

Thus the materials of our history. the weapons of our 
defence, and the arguments for our complete and thorough 
vindication and justification, as an army, are in the hands of 
oir enemies who refuse us access to them. It behooves us 
therefore diligenily to collect from our surviving comrades 
all such matter as they have on paper, or in their recollec- 
tion, so that we may supply and even more than supple- 
ment those records so sedulously sealed at Washington. 

We propose to testify to the world and to history, our abid- 
ing faith and perfect confidence, in the cause in which we 
fought, as the cause of Patriotism and Honor, Justice and 
Right, and above all, that it is the cause of constitutional 
and civil liberty on this continent. We are not of thoze 
who believe that this is a lost cause. The race from which 
we sprang have made this contest, time and again in the last 
thousand years. Over and over, our ancestors have made 
the issue of physical force, in favour of liberty against irre- 
sponsible power. Many times they have failed as we have 
done, before the overwhelming odds, of numbers, or wealth 
or organization or resources arrayed against and pressed on 
them. Many times they have fallen, crushed as it seemed 
beneath the enormous mass of power hurled on them. 
Thus it seemed when the State absorbed all the power of 
the Barons, and all the estates of the Church ; and the lib- 


50 ARMY MEETING. 


erties of the Commons of England appeared lost fcrever. 
Thus it seemed when the Long Parliament rode triumphant 
over the heritage of British freedom, and when the system 
of Stafford seemed to have established the Star Chamber 
and abolished the trial by jury But these were only inci- 
dents of the struggle, and the freeborn race rose and re-es- 
tablished their rights, regaining by arms what had been 
bought by blood. So we believe that the issue of the late 
struggle is but temporary. That State rights are but the 
incidents to preserve public hberty. That ail institutioi.s 
staked and lost, were but the means to accomplish our end, the 
perpetuation of our liberties and rights, inherited from our 
fathers centuries before the Puritans touched Plymouth Rock » 
or the Cavalier landed at Jamestown. They were but the 
earthworks which we then defended ; great and important 
bulwarks and defences to be sure ; but when they are lost, all 
is ot lost. 

The great defences are still left. Trial by jury, free 
speech, free press, a voice in government anda share in 
making the laws. With these weapons we shall regain our 
lost rights, we shall recover our despoiled liberties, making 
the contest with the sure and steady belief in the certainty 
of success; and the fixed and ready purpose, whenever it is 
necessary and unavoidable; again to vindicate our worthi- 
ness of victory and liberty, as our fathers have done from 
Runny Mede down to Manassas. 

For awhile, the disasters which befell us clouded our vision, 
and the dust ot the battle we mistook for the darkness of 
death. But time has enabled us to see, that though broken 
in fortune, shattered in our civil constitution, pressed be- 
neath the yoke of conquest, the ancestral spirit is still burn- 
ing, the ancestral love of liberty is still unquenchable, and 
with the coming years, our ability to achieve our deliverance 
will be ever increasing. 

With a firm faith in the future, with a perfect belief in 
the blood which flows in our veins, we move on with a cer- 
tain confidence that we or our children will regain all we 
have tempcrarily lost, and in the mean time we teach them to 
revere, love and honour the memory of the great men who 
fell in defence of the Starry Cross, and to adore and 
maintain the cause in which it waved and for which they fell. 


In propounding the question on the adoption of the res- 


REMARKS OF GENERAL EARLY. 51 


olutions from the Committee on organization of the Army 
of Northern Virginia, Geveral Early made the following 
remarks : 


My Frienps :—TI will take the liberty of saying a word 
or two to you before taking the vote on the proposition now 
before you. There are very many facts illustrative of the 
devotion of our soldiers, which, though not proper to have 
been introduced into th: formal official reports which were 
made at the time, ought not to be lost to history. Let it 
be our care to collect al these, and put them in a tangible 
form for the use of: the future historian who shall undertake 
to portray our wonderful struggle. The duty of preserving 
the facts and putting them in some available form, I have 
constantly urged since the close of the war. This duty 
ought to beperformed, whether the parties who furnish them 
shall think proper to publish them or not. In the last in- 
terview I had with General Lex, in speaking of that last 
hour of the struggle, when he so reluctantly surrendered 
at Appomattox, he informed me that in fact there were 
only seven thousand five hundred men who were surren- 
dered with arnis in their hauds; and he told me that before 
going to that interview, which resulted in the surrender, 
he gave orders to that gallant Georgian, who, he knew, and 
I knew, and every one who came in contact with him knew, 
never failed to obey with alacrity all orders given to him, 
and when occasion required did not wait for orders—I 
mean Genera! Joun B. Gorpon, whom I am happy to meet aid 
welcome here,—and that other, whose name I will not call on 
this occasion, for reasons you will perhaps understand, to 
hold their commands in readiness to fig.t, with the deter- 
mination to cut his way out at all hazards, if such terms 
were not granted as he thought his army was entitled to 
demand. Now, gentlemen, of all who gained honour in the 
war, in my opinion, the private soldicr who volunteered in 
the beginning, without waiting for the conscmpt officer, and 
after doing his duty was jound with arms in hand at 
Appomattox, still ready to obey the orders of his commander, 
is entitled to take rank with the proudest, and the names 
of all such ought to be preserved and transmitted to pos: 
terity. 


52 ARMY MEETING. 

The report of the committee was then adopted without a 
dissenting voice, and with great enthusiasm. | 

On motion of Captain Houston, the chair appointed Cap- 
tain Houston, Captain Mann Pace, and Major Roper? Stites 
to superiutend the publication of the proceedings of the 
meeting Thursday night, and the speeches then delivered, 


and also the proceedings of the meeting at the Theatre, in 


pamphtet form. The committee was further authorized to 


collect contributions from officers and soldiers, to defray the 


expense of this work; and the meeting then adjourned, 


every one looking and feeling as if he were indeed a mem- 


ber of the noble Army of Northern Virginia onee more and 
forever. 





General Wu. N. Penpieron, having declined to aet as a member of 
the Executive Committee of the Lez Monument Association, organized 
at Richmond on the 3rd of Noyember last, Col. THomas H. Carrer is 
appointed in his place. 


J. A. EARLY, President Association. 
December 8th, 1870. 





ERRATA. 


Page 5, line 23, from bottom, after the word ‘‘regard,” instead of the 
comma, insert a period, and begin the next word ‘‘ We,” with a capital 
aetter. 
Page 7, line 14, from top, for ‘‘is,”” read ‘‘as.” 
Page 48, line 10, from bottom, for ‘‘ muster, rolls,” read *‘ muster- 
rolls.” 


oe 


%. 
sh} 
ete 
ate 
et 


= 


1 
Y 4 








